The tendency to complain

By (Late) Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

On hearing an acquaintance complain about others, I pointed out that complaint is the killer of spirituality. Making complaints is such an evil that you must totally avoid doing so.

He asked that how you could avoid complaining when there are so many reasons for complaint every day in this world. I said this was how he was being put to the test and that in spite of complaints you yourself have to remain complaint-free in this world, in spite of negative experiences, you have to learn to live positively.

This is a form of test paper for a person in this world. Everyone has to pass this test. One who passes this test is a successful person, and one who fails in this test has nothing left to hope for in this life. Furthermore this failure is eternal in nature, success is also everlasting.

The making of complaints is no simple matter. Complaints are always accompanied by ungratefulness. A heart full of complaints will have no feelings of gratitude. Furthermore, a complaint is like dirt. Even one speck of dirt defiles all of the water in the tub. In the same way, even a minor complaint deprives one of the feeling of gratefulness. A person ought to be so sensitive in this matter that he should never tolerate the erosion of gratitude. He should keep ignoring complaints, and keep ignoring those things which would cause him to complain, so that there is no dilution of his gratitude. There is only one way to keep oneself away from this deadly evil and that is to nip it in the bud. Even if you have a minor complaint, you should reduce it to zero. Likewise, if there is one small thing to be thankful for you should magnify it so that it looks like something very great. This is the only strategy by which you can develop a personality in which there is no particle of ungratefulness. Those who live with the feeling of gratefulness have eternal Paradise in store for them.